Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Review: It's A Love Thing - Twin Kennedy

It's always fun when you get to review a new album by artists you have been following for a while and who are just as much fun in person, as they are on stage. This album is exactly what you would expect from these two amazing young ladies. Of course having it produced by Nashville Star winner and singer/songwriter/actor George Canyon, can not hurt.

Introducing the girls - Julie and Carli Kennedy are true homegrown talent. Having grown up in the small town of Powell River BC, on the west coast, and playing and singing together since they were knee high to a grass hopper, the twins are nothing but amazing. Both have Bachelors degrees in musical performance, and have found a way to fuse classical, jazz, R&B, folk, country music and little thing called Kennedy into the music that separates them from the rest. A true testament to their love of music is the program they have developed that let's them bring music into schools from the classical styles to today's country all while having fun. But all the same it's their sound, originality and personality that comes through in everything they touch.

I was lucky enough to run into the ladies on their current CD release tour in Edmonton, at Giovanni's Music Center, and true to form it was a great performance (it always is when they hit the stage) and an introduction into the contents of their first full length LP (do they even make those anymore). "It's A Love Thing" is an album you put in your CD player or on your mp3 player and connect it to your car's stereo, pop the convertible top open and travel down the open roads of country fields.

Right from the get go, you hear the fun that was had in making the album. In "Get Back", which almost takes you back to the 80's and the fun pop songs like "Mickey". It makes you want to just start having fun as well. Which knowing George Canyon the producer and the Twins is exactly what was the idea.

There is one thing that these ladies show throughout the album and it really is apparent starting in track 2 - "That's what I should have said" is the harmonies, for what it's worth, they have probably some of the best harmonies I have heard in a long time.

From guitar openers to fiddle solo's to the beauty of the harmonies this album will be enjoyed by more than just country fans. There is even the trade mark classical guitar picking by Carli in the interlude which is where their musical story began and provides the transition into the second half of the album.

There a number of songs I can see as climbing up the charts including "Feels like Freedom" which could easily fit in the score for a country set movie, or "Over" which would make a great crossover song into Easy Listening or light pop as well as in Country Music. You get a feel for the Producer as well in "Second Hand Gold" with a military influence on the drums but true country through and through.

Although I was never told this "Keep on Dancing" sounds like a story about their parents as the song leads you through the life of getting married, having kids and back full circle to be just the 2 of them again, the one thing you always remember is that first dance.

One thing about this album compared to their EP's the girls show how much their careers and music are growing, but they never ever forget where they came from.